A trip to the York Art Gallery, to explore the delights of a collection of wonderful ceramics with the charming title of ‘The Yorkshire Tea Ceremony’. This is essentially a story about an individual collector W.A. Ismay, who recognised that high quality ceramics were too often made and displayed in the south of the country, to the neglect of the north. Essentially, this whole exhibit was Ismay’s version of ‘levelling up’.
But this wasn’t an exhibition of northern makers, it was a global collection with many of the big names in studio pottery featuring large. I was particularly drawn to this display of four pieces by Shoji Hamada. In the background, you can see an enlargement of an exhibition catalogue from the Crafts Centre of Great Britain (1958). In the catalogue, the Hamada pieces are listed in descending order of price. The most expensive was £25 but look at the list of teacups at £2 each. My heart weeps that my parents didn’t have the forethought to by their one-year-old daughter a £2 Shoji Hamada cup!
In the foreground are four Hamada pieces: a tea-bowl, a vase, a jar and a bottle. I love them all of course (I’m a big fan) but the simplicity of the tea-bowl and the classic design of the jar are my favourites. Ismay said of Hamada: ‘The qualities of his work seem to me to arise from spontaneity and no fiddling and a sort of relaxed and sure-handed self-restraint’. The Japanese have a word: ‘Shibui’ which very roughly translates as subtle and understated beauty. I love that word and I wish I could find its English equivalent, but I often find myself landing upon it when I see Japanese inspired pottery. There were many shibui moments in my York trip and I was so glad to have gone.